Mental health crises: Responders trained in crisis intervention

Recently, more than 20 officers successfully completed a weeklong crisis intervention training, representing the Auburn, Butler, Garrett and Waterloo police departments, DeKalb and Noble county sheriff’s offices and Bluffton Police Department.

Officer Sam Anglin serves as the CIT coordinator for the Auburn Police Department.

What is crisis intervention?

“From a law enforcement perspective, we get called to a lot of incidents where somebody has lost control that they need a third party to show up with a gun on their hip, to show up and try and fix whatever problem’s going on,” he said.

“For years and years and years, it has typically been we don’t know how to intervene much outside of they are in immediate danger to themselves or others, and that can come in a couple of different ways.

“Indiana code covers danger to themselves or others or gravely disabled, which is so disabled due to a mental illness that they cannot physically take care of themselves,” Anglin said. “That one takes a little more articulation, and that’s something we covered during this class.

“This training is about understanding what kind of things, what kind of issues cause people to enter crisis,” he continued. “You can have some significant traumatic event — death of a loved one, death of a spouse, death of a child — that could send somebody into that kind of spiral.”

Why is CIT important?

“For me, it’s a collaboration between law enforcement and mental health, but everybody else in the community has a piece in every single person that is touched by any of our organizations and then the people we don’t see,” said Karla Benitez, director and practice administrator at Bowen Health in Auburn.

“There are a lot of people that need help that don’t come and seek the help, but maybe one of us has interacted with them at some point. How can we work together to bridge gaps?

“It’s important to normalize mental health, to normalize the need for collaboration and crisis intervention and hopefully bridge gaps in services and resources,” she said.

About three years ago, Parkview Health conducted a community needs assessment, with mental health being one of the main topics identified as a need in DeKalb County.

From that, Benitez said a mental health coalition was formed, comprised of about 60 different organizations, to conduct strategic planning, determine needs and set goals. Crisis intervention developed from that.

“There are things like substance use. People are so under the influence of a substance or so if you’re talking about addiction, beholden to a substance that it does terrible things to stay in. They degenerate to the point that we get called,” Anglin said.

“Actual physical, bodily health, genetic health, anything like that, that’s where you’re talking about bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, situations like that.”

The focus of the CIT program

“The first day of the week is really about getting your feet wet and kind of understanding why we’re here in the first place, what kind of situations and how this training can be utilized,” Anglin explained.

From there, the class focused on factors that cause people to be in crisis situations or conditions. Participants also learn de-escalation skills “and really hitting them hard,” he said. Role-playing exercises offered opportunities for participants to put into practice what they have learned in a controlled environment.

“How can we act at that point in time, and what can we get these people so it’s turning into a response?” Anglin said. “We now have a whole variety of tools in our toolbox so we can try and address the problems with our community members and try and get them something more than detained in a hospital.”

Each day covered different topics. On the fourth day, representatives of various mental health and care facilities and programs addressed the gathering about what they can do to help people get the help they need.

The group also conducted site visits to places such as Fortify Life, Northeastern Center Cares and Bowen Health.

Available resources

In the afternoon of the fourth day, representatives of about 20 organizations spent a few moments introducing themselves and how they can help in the many situations first responders may encounter.

Organizations such as Enact, Drug Free Noble County and DeKalb County Coalition, Bowen Health, YWCA of Northeast Indiana, Serenity House, St. Martin’s Healthcare, Hearten House, Brightpoint, The Gathering, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Northeastern Center, Fortify Life, Parkview DeKalb Hospital, as well as food pantries were among those represented.

The YWCA provides domestic and sexual violence advocacy services, explained Jennifer Rohlf, YWCA’s director of empowerment. The YWCA serves Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Wells and Whitley counties. It meets with survivors and helps them connect with resources, obtain protective orders or go to court with survivors.

Serenity House has a number of houses for men and women in Albion, Auburn, Peru, Plymouth and Warsaw and is a partner agency with the United Way of DeKalb County. It provides transitional living in the form of recovery homes for men and women who have made the decision to become free from the bondage of alcohol and/or drugs.

Operating in the basement of the Auburn Presbyterian Church, The Gathering works with individuals in teaching boundaries and helping people and families diagnose mental health issues, teach communication and address needs.

Veteran suicide is a major problem at a rate of 18-19 per day, said Nicholas Todoran, compact care coordinator with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We will pay for 30 days of inpatient treatment or 90 days of outpatient treatment at anywhere the veteran chooses,” Todoran said. “They don’t have to come to the VA. We would like them to come to the VA, but if they want to go to a different provider, that’s fine.

“If you come across a veteran that is in a suicide crisis, get them to the hospital, take them to the VA, get them treatment and get them stabilized,” he said.

Many of the clients at Hearten House have suffered severe trauma that they’ve never received care for, explained executive director Marisa McKenzie.

Enact provides support for people in mental health crisis. “At Enact, we never lose sight of the fact that we’re people serving people. We want to support you with whatever you are experiencing and meet you wherever you are — at home, school or in the community,” according to a handout a the program. Enact serves Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Marshall, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties.

Graduation

At the graduation ceremony at the conclusion of the week, retired DeKalb Superior Court II Judge Monte Brown, a former prosecuting attorney, said CIT gives police officers and responders another tool in a growing and expanding toolbox.

“Everyone in this room, to one extent, is involved in mental health,” Brown said. “We deal with it more today than we ever have dealt with it before.”

CIT programs and training are proving to be beneficial.

“Our community is better served because of it. Our courts are better served, our prosecutor’s offices,” he said. “The CIT program is important from the perspective, not only because it arms you with the skills that you need out there on the streets dealing with people suffering from mental health issues, but drugs today have also contributed significantly to that.

“I applaud all of you for the time and willingness to come here … it’s really important and our community is better served,” Brown said.

“The work (law enforcement does) is so important, and the influence they have over our community is just equally important, if not more, because they are seen as role models, authority and safety,” Benitez said.

“If we can normalize interactions, if we can approach things in a way that is helpful and it turns people toward health, that’s what we want to see with our mental health patients or people in crisis in general, is just turning to law enforcement, turning to us and seeking help without fear,” she said.

“Mental health crises look different, and they’re not easy, but I think if everybody can work together, then that person has the best experience and hopefully, we’re not seeing them cycle over and over through our systems,” Benitez added.